The Basque Country tournament is an annual football competition held in Spain which serves as the preliminary round of the Copa Federación de España (Copa RFEF) in the Basque Country (Euskadi) region. Organised by the Basque Football Federation, the participating clubs in the tournament are drawn from the Tercera División (Group 4), as well as local clubs in the Segunda División B who have not qualified for the season's Copa del Rey, including reserve teams and farm teams. Not all teams eligible take part each year.
As the Copa RFEF is for lower division clubs, the top sides in the region such as Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad have never entered the main competition or the qualifying phase. However, Deportivo Alavés have taken part in the national phase, and their B-team won the Basque tournament three years in a row from 2015.
Format The regional tournament is usually played between July and October, the format depends on the number of registered teams, and the winner receives a €3,000 prize.
The champion qualifies to the National phase of the Copa RFEF. At that point, losing teams from the first round of the Copa del Rey, usually including at least one Basque club, are also invited to the Copa RFEF, but often they decline to participate in order to concentrate on the league.
The opening nationwide rounds pair entrants from either the same autonomous community or one nearby (such as Navarre or Cantabria), so it is common for the Basque teams to eliminate each other.
History The most successful Basque qualifier to the national phase was Real Unión, who won the entire competition in 2015, defeating CD Castellón 4–0 on aggregate.
SD Lemona were finalists in 2011 and 2012, with the latter event producing a dramatic outcome: having lost the first leg away to CD Binissalem by a 5–0 score, Lemona turned the tie on its head at home, winning 6–1. They lost on away goals, being unable to add to their tally in the last 15 minutes of the match. Within a few months of the final, the club had dissolved due to financial problems. Lemona also have the best overall record in the qualifying tournament, winning five times in 16 years.
Season Winner Runner-up 1993–94AmurrioFirst round1994–95AurreráQuarter-final1995–96LemonaFirst round1996–97LemonaFirst round1997–98ElgoibarRound of 161998–99Real UniónRound of 161999–2000LemonaPreliminary round2000–01AmurrioPreliminary round2001–02Real Sociedad BRound of 162002–03AurreráRound of 162003–04AmurrioSestaoRound of 16Eliminated Zalla2004–05AurreráN/AQualifying round2005–06IndautxuAurreráRound of 162006–07AmurrioLemonaRound of 16Eliminated Oyonesa2007–08AmorebietaZarautzRound of 322008–09LeioaGernikaQualifying round2009–10BarakaldoPortugaleteSemi-finalsEliminated Lemona and Alavés2010–11LemonaZallaRunners-up2011–12LemonaZallaRunners-upEliminated Amorebieta2012–13 ZallaAurreráRound of 32Zalla eliminated by CD Laudio2013–14BalmasedaAlavés BSemi-finalsEliminated Real Unión2014–15Real UniónGernikaWinnersEliminated Amorebieta2015–16Alavés BBerioRound of 322016–17Alavés BZallaRound of 16Alavés B eliminated by Real Unión2017–18Alavés BGetxoRound of 322018–19Real UniónZamudioQuarter-finalEliminated Cultural Durango2019–20Cultural DurangoReal UniónRound of 162020–21BalmasedaReal UniónRound of 16Eliminated Barakaldo2021–22LeioaN/A Semi-final Notes
Champions Editions with only one team registered not included in this ranking. Teams Winners Lemona 5 1 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2010–11, 2011–12 Amurrio 4 0 1993–94, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2006–07 Real Unión 3 2 1998–99, 2014–15, 2018–19 Alavés B 3 1 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 Aurrerá Vitoria 2 2 1994–95, 2002–03 Zalla 1 3 2012–13 Amorebieta 1 0 2007–08 Barakaldo 1 0 2009–10 Leioa 1 0 2008–09 Indautxu 1 0 2005–06 Balmaseda 2 0 2013–14, 2020–21 Cultural Durango 1 0 2019–20 Leioa 1 0 2008–09 Real Sociedad B 1 0 2001–02 Elgoibar 1 0 1997–98 Gernika 0 2 – Sestao 0 1 – Portugalete 0 1 – Zarautz 0 1 – Berio 0 1 – Getxo 0 1 – Zamudio 0 1 –
Previous competitions From 1930 until 1987, Biscay and Gipuzkoa operated separate provincial competitions for their non-professional clubs, with the winners of each qualifying for the national Campeonato de Aficionados, the predecessor to the Copa Federación.Spain - Amateur Champions (Campeonato de España Amateur) 1930-1987, RSSSF, 20 May 2020 The most successful team in Biscay was Erandio with 13 wins, far ahead of Indautxu on 6, while in Gipuzkoa Real Unión, CD Logroñés and Mondragón won four titles apiece.Spain - Campeonato Amateur de Vizcaya y Guipúzcoa 1930-1987, RSSSF, 2 November 2018
References
External links Basque Football Federation